Electric conductor and attachment for printing-presses.



* No. 687,932. Patented Dec. 3, I901. A c. H. COLBY.

ELECTRIC ,GUNDUGTOB AND ATTACHMENT FOR PRINTING PRESSES.

(Applicafiion filed. Apr. 20, 1901.)

(No Model.)

wrnnnms PETERS co. PHOTO-\JTHQ, wAsmmTm. n. c

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES H. COLBY, OF MOUNT PLEASANT, IOWA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HAIF TO B. F.STRUTI-IERS, OF DES MOINES, IOTVA.

ELECTRIC CONDUCTOR AND ATTACHMENT FOR PRlNTlNG-PRESSES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 687,932, datedDecember 3, 1901.

Application filed April 20, 1901. Serial No. 56,746, (No model.)

To aZZ whom, it may concern:

Be it known that 1, CHARLES H. COLBY, a citizen of the United States,residing at Mount Pleasant, in the county of Henry and State of Iowa,have invented a new and useful Electric Conductor and Attachment forPrinting- Presses, of which the following is a specification.

My object is to prevent the annoyances and damaging of paper in themovements, or the fluttering, doubling, and creasing incident to feedingsheets of paper from a pile on a printing-press to be successivelyadvanced for receiving impressions upon the forms in the press. Suchannoyances are occasioned by the electric charge inherent in a pile ofoverlying sheets of paper when in position on a press as required to beprinted and the sticking of paper to various parts of the press; and myinvention consists in the mechanism adapted to collect and carry offsuch electric charge and to be applied and operated in combination witha printing-press, as hereinafter set forth, pointed out in my claims,and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is atop View of my device placed over a pile of paper on a table. Fig. 2 isa transverse sectional view on the line 00 so of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 shows myinvention suspended over a pile of paper on the feed-table of a press asrequired for practical use.

The letter A represents a frame made of copper, preferably triangular inshape, as shown.

B is a cross-bar in the frame, also made of copper.

On the under side of the frame are fixed delicate wire brushes 0,adapted for collecting electricity from the pile of paper, and on thetop are fixed electrodes d, adapted for conveying and distributingelectricity from the plane below into the atmosphere above as requiredto relieve the paper from the disturbing influence of such electricforce as is in it and the atmosphere closest to it.

F is the feed-board of a printing-press, and g is a copper wire fixed tothe ceiling in the press-room and from thence extended into the ground.The end of the wire above the press is bent downward and has a coppertube 7L fixed thereto and a set-screw a seated in the tube and adaptedfor clamping fast therein the end of a copper wire m, fixed to thecenter of the cross-bar B of the frame A in such a manner that the wireat can be adjustably and detachably connected with the tube hand wire 9and suspended over the pile of paper on the feedboard F in such a mannerthat the plurality of delicate brushes 0 will contact with the sheets ofpaper as they successively become the uppermost in the pile. As thesheets of paper are removed by feeding them to the press and the pilelowered it is obvious the frame A can also be lowered as required toallow the brushes 0 to contact with the paper. It is also obvious thatelectricity collected from the paper into the suspended frame by meansof the brushes will be conveyed, by means of the wire that extends fromthe frame, to the ground and carried off and grounded, so that thesheets of paper under the brushes can be readily fed successively to thecylinder of a press without fluttering and doubling and becoming foldedand damaged. It is also obvious that the trian gular-shaped frame isadvantageous in that the corner portions of the sheets of paper arereadily accessible to the operator as required to advance themsuccessively from the feedboard to the cylinder.

Having described the purpose,construction, application, and operation ofmy invention, its practical utility will be obvious to persons familiarwith the art to which it pertains.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent therefor,is-

1. In a device for collecting and conveying electricity from paper onthe feed-board of a printing-press, a rigid skeleton metal frame oftriangular shape having conducting-brushes on its under side and meansfor suspending the frame in a plane above the feed-board, to operate inthe manner set forth for the purposes stated.

2. In a device for collecting and conveying electricity from paper onthe feed-board of a printing-press, a rigid metal frame havingconducting-brushes on its under side, electrodes projecting upward fromthe frame and means for suspending the frame in a plane above thefeed-board, to operate in the manner set forth for the purposes stated.

3. In a device for relieving paper on the feed-board of a printing-pressfrom its disturbing inherent electricity, a metal frame of triangularshape having a plurality of conducting-brushes on its under side adaptedto contact with sheets of paper and a plurality of electrodes on its topside, an electric conductor fixed to the frame and connected with afixed conductor above the frame and feedboard of a printing-press andextended into the ground, arranged and combined to operate in the mannerset forth for the purposes stated.

4. A device for collecting and conveying electricity from paper on thefeed-board of a CHARLES H. COLBY.

Witnesses:

WM. GLADDEN, W. E. KEELER.

